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MADISON, Wis. — Yesterday Governor Scott Walker (R-WI) out of the blue issued a press release calling for Wisconsin to repeal the Common Core.He said in a prepared statement, “Today, I call on the members of the State Legislature to pass a bill in early January to repeal Common Core and replace it with standards set by people in Wisconsin.”

Governor Walker has been relatively quiet on the standards. He told reporters last fall that he’d like Wisconsin to have its own unique standards that were higher than what was already established. “I’d like us to be in the position where we can identify our own unique standards that I think in many ways will be higher and more aggressive than the ones they’re talking about,” Walker said.

“Like every other parent across the state, I want our education system to help our kids excel and reach their full potential,” Walker said. “Federal standards in education may be raising the bar in some states, but in Wisconsin, we can do better. The education leaders here in our state are most qualified to assess the best way to take the standards we set for students to the next level.”

Walker worked with members of the Legislature in both chambers crafting legislation that would have created a process that would develop Wisconsin-based model academic standards. Specifically this legislation would have created a commission to review the the Common Core, and Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Tony Evers would have chaired it. Evers, a Democrat, threatened a lawsuit if the Common Core is rejected by the Legislature and Walker.

“It’s campaign season in Wisconsin and around the country and, not surprisingly, politics trumps sound policy,” Evers said in a released statement. “The notion that Wisconsin could simply repeal our standards or take a two year time out on our assessments not only runs counter to both state and federal law, it jeopardizes important reforms like educator effectiveness and school and district accountability. But most importantly it brings chaos to our children and our classrooms.”

“The idea that they’d just be able to replace the standards at the beginning of the legislative session is absurd,” said Steve Kestell (R-Elkhart Lake), the chair of the Assembly’s Education Committee told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “We’re in an election season. People desperate to be re-elected will say anything.”

Kestell announced in April that he would not be running for reelection. Reelection may have been a hard sell after activists in the Wisconsin Republican Party’s 2nd, 4th and 6th Congressional District caucuses passes a resolution of no-confidence and no support for Kestell, as well as, his counterpart in the Wisconsin Senate – Senate Education Committee Chair Luther Olson (R-Ripon). Kestell represented parts of Wisconsin’s 6th Congressional District.

Walker’s Democratic challenger, Mary Burke, is a member of the Madison School Board. Burke is a supporter of the Common Core State Standards and her campaign criticized Walker’s statement. “This is a desperate election year move by a career politician to shore up his extreme right-wing base,” said a statement from Burke spokesman Joe Zepecki.

Common Core opposition according to recentpolls is not partisan however.